Fragmentary Latin epitaph, for the wife or other female relative of a cleric of the titulus-church of *Clemens (S01813), not named 'saint’, followed by a poorly preserved poem imitating Damasan wording. Found in the ager Veranus, via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably second half of the 4th or first half of the 5th c.
E05329
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Literary - Poems
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
[- - -]s tituli Clementis VI idus apri[les - - -]
[- - - ra]puit regia caeli bianda
[- - - q]ue benicna semota prudens
[- - -]eivicnanque tumulo
[- - -]a ouiescit
[- - - p]raestamte rfsurget
[- - - vixit a]nn(is) LXXII fecit cu[m marito - - -]
1. possibly [dep. illa uxor illius lectori]s: Ferrua || 3. read benigna || 4. ]eivicnanque read benignamque: Marucchi, Ferrua, ]ei vicnanque: EDB || 5. read quiescit || 6. read p]raestante resurget, possibly Christo p]raestante: Ferrua, domino p]raestante: Marucchi || 7. XXII: Gatti, III ID IVLI: da Bra, LXXII: Ferrua
'[- - -] of the titulus of Clemens, on the 6th day before the ides of April [- - -] captured, the palace of heaven which is to be traversed [- - -] which benign, distant, prudent [- - -] and the benign one in the tomb (?) [- - -] reposes [- - -] arises with the aid [of Christ (?) - - - lived] 72 years, made with [her husband (?) - - -]'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 18160 = EDB27923 and EDB30993.
Translation: P. Nowakowski.
Cult building - independent (church)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Two conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. The upper margin is preserved, as well as the endings of lines 2-6 of the text. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.53 m; W. 0.85 m. Letter height 0.05 m.The left-hand fragment was first recorded in the ager Veranus, on the via Tiburtina, by Giuseppe Gatti, and a transcription features in his archive. The fragments were first assembled and published by Orazio Marucchi. Now both fragments are displayed on an enclosure wall of the monastery on the ager Veranus. The current reference edition was published by Antonio Ferrua in 1980, based on his own examination of the stone and earlier editions. A colour photograph is offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari.
Discussion
Antonio Ferrua supposed that the epitaph praises the wife of a cleric, possibly a reader, of the Roman titulus-church of Clemens, a 4th c. foundation, located at the foot of the Lateran Hill. It was mentioned by Jerome (E07904) in 392, who already associated it with Clemens, bishop of Rome and martyr of the Crimea (S00111). In the 12th c.In reality, in origin, like other Roman tituli, the Clemens of the titulus-title was almost certainly not the bishop and martyr, but a lay founder. Based on an inscription found in the church ($EXXXX) it has been suggested that his full name was Titus Flavius Clemens, rather implausibly identified with Clement of Alexandria (S02839), or a consul condemned to death under Domitian.
For another inscription recording this titulus-church, found in the same cemetery, see E05314.
Dating: The editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari date the inscription to the second half of the 4th or first half of the 5th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB27923 and EDB30993. http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/27923
http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/30993
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 18160. cf. ??19592.
da Bra, G., Le iscrizioni latine della Basilica di S. Lorenzo fuori le mura del chiostro e delle catacombe di S. Ciriaca (Rome: Scuola tipografica Pio X, 1931), 101, no. 160.
Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 195, no. 204.
Marucchi, O., Le catacombe romane (Rome: Desclée, Lefebvre E.C., 1905, 2nd ed.), 309.
Further reading:
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 3 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1877), 517.
Paweł Nowakowski
12/04/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00111 | Clemens/Clement, bishop of Rome, martyr of the Crimea | Clemens | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E05329 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05329